The 10th Season Premiere of "The Amazing Race" Delivers The Four-TimeEmmy Winning Series' Largest Audience Since the Premiere of "The Amazing Race 9" Last February

"The Amazing Race" Grows In Key Demographics During Each Half Hour of Its 90-Minute Premiere, Finishing With Its Best Demos For an Episode Since Last March

The 10th season premiere of THE AMAZING RACE delivered the four-time Emmy Award-winning reality series' largest audience since the premiere of "The Amazing Race 9" last February and grew during each half hour of its 90-minute debut in key demographics, according to live plus same day preliminary Nielsen ratings for Sunday, Sept. 17.

Against football competition, THE AMAZING RACE 10 SPECIAL (S) posted a 6.3/09 with 10.11m viewers, 3.0/08 in adults 18-34, 3.9/09 in adults 18-49 and 4.6/10 in adults 25-54 from 8:30-10:00PM.

This is the best delivery for an AMAZING RACE episode since 2/28/06 ("The Amazing Race 9" premiere), in both households and viewers, 3/21/06 in both adults 18-34 and adults 25-54 and 3/28/06 in adults 18-49.

puddin:
'Amazing Race' lags in ratings contestThe reality show's fall premiere places third in its new Sunday-night slot, after football and 'Extreme Makeover.'

By Scott Collins, Times Staff Writer

CBS' reality show "The Amazing Race" is still on the hunt for stable ratings.

You may recall that the network shifted the globetrotting scavenger hunt from Wednesdays to 8 p.m. Sundays this fall, where executives hoped it could kick off a reconstituted night of entertainment programming. For the first time in years, CBS won't have a Sunday made-for-TV movie; instead "Race" will lead into two cop dramas, "Cold Case" and "Without a Trace," the latter a hit show imported from Thursdays.

But this time around the start wasn't so impressive. The 10th edition of "Race" had to settle for third place in its 90-minute Sunday debut, with an average of 10.1 million viewers, according to early data from Nielsen Media Research.

Worse, the debut slipped 11% compared with last fall's premiere among the core audience of adults ages 18 to 49.

The CBS premiere was edged out by a two-hour special version of ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," which scored 11.5 million viewers during its head-to-head competition with "Race." But the bigger problem was NBC's "Sunday Night Football," which through two airings is already making life difficult for rivals. Sunday's Washington Redskins-Dallas Cowboys game averaged 18.4 million viewers, tossing NBC an easy victory for the night.

CBS is entering the new season — which officially started Monday night — with two of its top reality franchises showing signs of advanced age.

In addition to "Race," which has changed time slots three times since January, last week's debut of "Survivor: Cook Islands," featuring teams divided along ethnic lines, delivered 18 million viewers, the lowest premiere for the franchise since its 2000 debut.

CBS' "Amazing Race" kicked off its latest edition with solid numbers on its new night Sunday, but NBC dominated once again with football.Nielsens for the NFL game between the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins are subject to revision due to the live nature of sports, but it should come in at around a 7.3 rating in adults 18-49 and more than 18 million viewers overall. That's enough to help the Peacock easily beat rival nets, which aired a mix of firstrun and repeat programming.

The National Football League gave new carrier NBC a pair of huge games to open the season, and they have delivered impressive ratings. It's unlikely the net will be able to consistently match these numbers in coming weeks, though, as competish increases.

At CBS, the 10th season of "Amazing Race" averaged a preliminary 3.9 rating/9 share in adults 18-49 and 10.1 million viewers overall from 8:30 to 10 -- down slightly from the last two editions, which topped a 4 demo rating.

ABC aired a firstrun two-hour special "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" from 8 to 10, averaging a 3.9/10 in 18-49 and 10.9 million viewers overall in the Nielsen prelims. Its season preem, along with the return of "Desperate Housewives," airs Sunday.

Read the full article at:http://www.variety.com/story.asp?l=story&a=VR1117950286&c=14

x_kicks:
The Amazing Race did not beat Extreme Makeover?!! Does that spell trouble?

TwoThumbsDawn:
The fact that The Amazing Race would not score more viewers than Extreme Makeover is sad to me...I love the show and want to see it do well.